The Diversity Dinner

A couple of weeks ago, the Dog Walker's Psychology teacher posted an opportunity for extra credit on her web page. Apparently the Salt Lake County mayor started a new program several years ago called the Diversity Dinner. I had never heard of it before... but I guess I was in the minority...

The event was free and I had the evening open so we added it to the calendar. We showed up right before 6:00, but we easily could have waited until 6:30. Obviously no one here was in a hurry. Except for the couple at our table who finished their meal and immediately bolted. But they were quickly replaced with others until our table was 8 again.

We had 3 questions we were each supposed to talk about for 3 minutes. The first one was easy. Why were we diverse? The Dog Walker pulled the Autism card and I gabbed on about the benefits of large families. Then we had to give a personal experience about how we dealt with diversity. This one was harder! I mumbled something about being from a small town where everyone was the same color from the same background.

The Dog Walker talked about merit badges and scouts and hard work. I was a bit surprised how well he handled the group. He really has improved so much in his public speaking! The third and final question wanted to know how we were going to connect with someone who is different from us.

So here I am connecting with all of you. Isn't it nice that we can all be friends? I think it would be so fun to get in a room with you guys, one table full of eight at a time and really talk. But since that's not possible I'm glad you pull me up once a day to see how I'm doing. Even though we are different, we are still a lot the same.


Now pass the baklava and start talking. The bell just rang and my three minutes are up!